Helsingborg was also the first town in Sweden to open a municipal theatre in 1921. Originally housed in a theatre built in 1877, its current building opened in 1976. Helsingborg Theatre is one of the leading producing and receiving houses in the country.
Rochdale-based Slingco - developers of CABLEnet, the leading product in its genre - was visited by architects Peder Lindbom and Torsten Nobling of Stockholm-based AIX Architects at the PLASA Show in 2004. The pair were leading a major refurbishment programme for the theatre, and were very interested in utilising the CABLEnet technology.
Discussions started in early 2005. Slingco's Nick Dykins took a delegation of 13 people from Helsingborg Theatre and the City Council who were funding the project, to Copenhagen Opera House in neighbouring Denmark, so see the Slingco-installed CABLEnet in situ. They were immediately impressed with the results and the benefits the system brings to a working theatrical space. Soon after a CABLEnet was specified and the order confirmed for Helsingborg.
The theatre required access to over-stage and front of house lighting and rigging positions in the roof. They wanted to maintain the elliptical shape of the roof void with the CABLEnet, as it curves round to match the elegant shape of the auditorium. The finished grid is 23m at its widest point and 9.5m deep, following the shape of the ceiling.
Technical manager Bertil Donker says: "The CABLEnet has completely changed the way we work in terms of increased speed and efficiency during rigging and fit up. It's great to be able to walk safely all over the roof void, and we can locate lighting positions or rigging points wherever they are needed, rather than having to work around the previous restrictions."
The CABLEnet system is created by weaving and tensioning high tensile steel cable within a frame, which is then hoisted to the required level in the theatre or concert hall to create a safe 'virtual floor'. Lighting, audio, AV technicians and riggers can then work on this with complete confidence. Almost invisible from ground level, the system has the key benefit of casting no shadows from lighting rigs positioned above the grid.
The Helsingborg grid was installed by a Slingco team of four in just 2 weeks. They worked alongside the strip-out contractors who were simultaneously dismantling and removing the theatre's old metal mesh walkways from the roof, as the re-fit window reduced to the absolute minimum so the theatre could keep working!
The Helsingborg project has proved such a success that Slingco is already engaged in its second Swedish CABLEnet installation - at Stockholm University Dance Theatre - involving some of the same design team. This is scheduled to complete in the Spring.
(Chris Henry)
